By The Bay Health’s 2023 gala was a phenomenal success, and their videographer did an amazing job of capturing the spirit and generosity of the evening. Most impressive is the way they connected the motivations of donors with the gifts they made.
Watch the full video below:
And we are totally flattered that the videographer managed to make Greg’s fund-a-need cadence seem like it was part of the band’s performance.
The type of auction lot that has seen the biggest growth and success in the past two years is the Buy-in Party. Also known as a Count Me In, Sign Up Party, or Buy a Spot: a buy-in auction lot offers bidders the opportunity to purchase tickets to attend an event on a per-unit basis. It could be per person, per pair, per table or even per team.
Buy-ins got their start at school events, where the community is tightly-knit and eager to get together and hang out with each other throughout the year. For many years, the perception was that buy-ins would only work if the majority of the crowd knew each other. Furthermore, many events believed that buy-ins could not generate significant income.
Bidders buying-in at the Boys and Girls Club of Sonoma Valley, 2023.
(Photo credit Melania Mahoney Photography)
But as larger auctions began to realize the versatility of the buy-in lot, they have evolved to become a staple of most every fundraising auction with which we work. Buy-ins give you the capacity to offer a lower level participation in your live auction while still raising the same as (or more than) you would with a single buyer lot.
In the process, buy-ins also offer bidders a “perceived bargain.” Consider a recent auction in Naples, Florida. The lowest any single lot sold for was $12,000 and the most was $52,000. We had a single buy-in for 20 couples that sold for $5,000 per couple. Bidders who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to participate in the live auction got to do so, and that one lot generated more than any other single lot in the auction.
This concept holds true for every auction. If your lowest selling lot goes for $1,000 that means there are people at your event who would love to pay $150 to be able to participate. Put together a party for 20 people at $150 each, and you have a successful lot and have engaged more bidders.
And where buy-ins were popular before the pandemic, they have seen a surge in popularity since. Auction attendees are thrilled to be back in-person, eager to do things together, and ready to get more social activities on their calendars.
If you don’t utilize Buy-In Parties as part of your live auction strategy, you are missing out on a valuable way to raise more money while enabling more people to participate in your auction. For more information on buy-ins, see our “how to” blog post, check out our list of great buy-in auction lot ideas, or contact us directly.
The auction lots that sell best are those that offer access to your bidders. Access to that which they could not otherwise obtain or access to relationships they wouldn’t otherwise be able to build. Professional sports championships and – every four years – the Summer Olympics usually do exceptionally well in most auctions.
And while the Summer Olympics are always popular, in 2024 the Olympics are going to be in Paris, one of the most desirable destinations in the world. If you could acquire tickets to the Olympics now, and build a package around them for next summer, it would be a huge addition to your auction in 2023.
Obtaining tickets is always a challenge. You can register for a drawing to “win” the right to purchase tickets by registering on the Paris 2024 website. They will be drawing winners until March 15th, and offering each winner a finite amount of time to purchase tickets for various competitions.
The list of available sports and rounds of competition are varied and very few Gold Medal opportunities are going to be offered in this drawing. But you could still easily build a very compelling Summer Olympic package for as little as $30/ticket.
Tickets to the Olympics may also be available to high-level Visa card holders. It is worth exploring perks and offers to see if any of your supporters are able to get tickets for you.
Once you have the tickets, accommodations are the next obvious challenge. As of this writing (2/15/23), AirBnb had not implemented surge pricing yet for Paris. I was able to find a number of flats and apartments available in very reasonable price ranges. Hotels are currently only booking through June of 2024, so pricing remains to be seen .
Is this all a long-shot? Yes. Would it be worth it if it came through? Absolutely. The best auction lots, after all, offer access to the otherwise unobtainable, and the Olympics are the pinnacle of hard to get events.
During 2022 we saw a return to in-person fundraising almost exclusively, and as the year progressed certain trends emerged in fundraising auctions. Now that the year is officially over, let’s take a look at the biggest trends:
People waited longer to commit to attending fundraising events. There were a few events that sold out immediately, but most events saw a nerve-wracking portion of their crowd wait until the last minute to purchase tickets. It seems that post-pandemic, people are less willing to commit to an in-person event in advance. One possible explanation is virtual events required little or no pre-commitment, and people became accustomed to that. Or some people are still nervous about committing to anything, given the climate.
However you look at it, last-minute registrations are always a nerve-wracking challenge, especially with a catering deadline looming. Knowing that 15-25% of your crowd may wait until the last week to register doesn’t make it psychologically easier to deal with, but it does give you advanced warning that you should plan on some strategies to work with it.
Less people were ready to return to in-person fundraising events. Some people may not have felt comfortable being extremely social, instead choosing to stay home and avoid crowds. Others may have simply moved on from the organization or event. Whatever the cause, most events saw a downturn in the number of attendees.
Smaller crowds did not mean lower proceeds in 2022
It started as a novelty as the first in-person post-pandemic events took place: Even though crowds were smaller than pre-pandemic, they were also louder than they’d ever been before. At first, we thought it was simply because people were happy to be back in person for the first time in years, but that energy carried throughout the entire year. Every event was louder than it had ever been before. Crowds weren’t just happy to be back in person in February, they were thrilled to party together in March, July, and November. There may have been less people in the room, but they were happier and more motivated to be there.
Smaller crowds? Yes. Louder? Absolutely. But also, more giving. On the whole, people donated more per-person than we saw pre-pandemic. Smaller crowds were able to achieve or exceed results from pre-pandemic events, sometimes with a radical reduction in crowd size.
San Francisco’s largest food and wine event reduced its crowd from 1,000 to 500 people and raised as much as it had pre-pandemic. A South Bay event with a slightly smaller crowd than “normal” experienced a three-times increase in giving. These are both extreme examples, but they represent a wealth of other events that had similar experiences. Overall, people who were willing to show up did so, with a passion.
Our answer to the perennially popular question “what are the hottest lots right now?” started to sound very familiar to clients who have worked with us for many years. Because what was hot in 2022 was very similar to what was hot in 2019.
Trips regained their popularity as travel increased. Dining and entertainment reemerged as some of the most profitable auction lots in live auctions. Experiences were popular again, as were relationship-based lots. One of the hottest categories of auction lots last year were buy-in parties (aka sign-up parties, buy-a-spots, etc.), which made a huge comeback post-pandemic.
You can see great examples of what was hot in 2022 in our annual list of the “Most Exciting Lots of the Year.”
The final trend of 2022 was the disappearance of virtual and hybrid events. You can read about this in more detail in this blog post, but the short version is people wanted to be back in person, not attending events virtually.
What will 2023 hold for fundraising events? Stay tuned for our next post on predictions for the upcoming year.
When the pandemic first struck and virtual events became the go-to method for conducting fundraising auctions, hybrid events seemed to offer so much potential. Hybrid events offered many promises, including the capability to bridge the divide between attendees eager to be back in the room together and crowds that still wanted to remain socially distant.
Two years later, what became of hybrid events? The short answer is they never lived up to their promise. The long answer is slightly more nuanced. Once in-person fundraising became an option, would-be supporters were separated into two distinct camps: those who were ready to be back in person, and those who were not.
Hybrid galas never truly took off
The at-home crowd seldom met financial expectations, let alone donated or spent enough to justify cost.
The people who wanted to be in-person were really ready to get out of the house and leave the virtual world behind. They were eager to gather, eager to party, and eager to support the cause. If they couldn’t get tickets to attend an event in person, there was no way they were going to log on to a virtual gala: they simply wouldn’t attend.
Those who chose to remain socially distant were less likely to purchase tickets for an in-person gala, obviously, but they were also less likely to log on for a virtual event. Multiple times we witnessed organizations work really hard to appease the “at-home crowd,” only to see tickets sales flag for the online event. And on those rare occasions when there were a decent number of online attendees, we seldom saw the level of participation we were hoping for from the online crowd. Simply put: virtual crowds did not donate or spend much within the hybrid model.
Which leads to the final reason hybrid events didn’t succeed: cost. Adding a hybrid component to an in-person event at least doubles the associated AV costs, and more than doubles the workload for event planning staff. And if the virtual crowd isn’t going to show up and spend money, those costs simply are not worth it. We saw a fall ’22 event spend over $15,000 on the virtual component of their hybrid event, only to have 12 people log on to watch the show.
This isn’t to say that there were not successful hybrid events; there were. We participated in hybrid events where the online audience generated over $155,000 in the fund-a-need, adding 33% to the overall take. And another event where the at-home crowd donated more than the in-person crowd. But these events were the exceptions, not the rule.
By the time crowds could gather in-person again, they were all-in or all-out, there was no middle ground.
After two years of pandemic, 2022 marked an almost complete return to in-person fundraising, and the re-emergence of live auction “irrational philanthropy.” Crowds were excited to be back in the room together, and auction committees pulled out all the stops to put together creative and enticing auction lots, making it the perfect time to bring back our annual tradition of recapping the most exciting auction lots of the year.
The types of lots that succeeded had varied greatly through the first two years of the pandemic. This year, trips were back in full force, as people started traveling again and pent-up demand for vacations revealed itself in bidding behavior. In-person entertainment opportunities also reclaimed a top spot in auction popularity and profitability. People really want to be social, engage and interact. It follows that buy-in lots (also known as “buy-a-spots,” “count me ins” or “pay to play parties”) have emerged as one of the most popular and exciting live auction lots in 2022.
Get creative! The most exciting auction lots don’t have to be expensive, they just need to offer exclusive access to experiences, relationships or both.
This year’s list of exciting auction lots includes a sampling of each of the above, as well as some experiences and relationship-based lots. For the purposes of this list, “exciting” is an arbitrary assignation focused on each lot’s uniqueness, creativity, and the buzz generated at the event. Sale price impacts the decision, but only relative to how other lots sold at the same event. I have, however, included some opening bids and final sale prices for the very first time in this series.
Knowing where bidding started and where it ended up can help understand how exciting the bidding was for some lots. The single most exciting and memorable auction lot of 2022 was a lot that underscores how sometimes it is not the content of the lot, but the intentions of the bidders that makes for an exciting auction.
But comparing pricing between events can become a dangerous, and ultimately unhealthy, practice. Don’t get hung up on how much other events make, and instead utilize this list to create fun and exciting lots of your own! The goal of this list is to help inspire creativity (and profitability!) at your fundraising auction.
And with no further preamble, here are the most exciting fundraising auction lots of 2022 (click on the + symbol to the right to expand each lot’s description):
Treat 50 of your closest friends to an exclusive Karaoke and Sushi Party at The Center. Sing your favorite songs from the main stage, enjoy sushi boats from local favorite Way Yum Sushi and drink chilled Soto Sake.
Hosted by professional singers and The Center's own Rachel and Brynn.
Opening Bid: $1,400
Sale Price: $7,000 (X2)
The honor of naming the Museum’s new baby river otter could be yours! You will also get an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour from the wildlife team plus a special encounter with the baby otter. Find out why a group of otters is called a romp!
Opening Bid: $500
Sale Price: $12,000
Our beloved Head of School is returning to a well-deserved retirement. Before his departure, he is giving us one last chance at his coveted dinner. Over the years, between his lots at Gala and SDV, Philippe has dazzled and delighted guests with 36 dinners.
Philippe’s dinners have become a cherished tradition and are famous among the school community. Now, it’s the last one ever, for real this time! Philippe will be returning to retirement, permanently. Here’s your final opportunity to enjoy this part of the school’s history.
As with his management of the school, Philippe brings equal parts efficiency, skill, and grace to his kitchen masterpieces. You will be treated to a sumptuous gourmet meal, prepared by Philippe in the intimacy and comfort of your own home. Enjoy a delicious dining experience where Philippe will also personally select the perfect wine to accompany each course, and he will guide you through his wine choices.
This is not your run-of-the-mill dinner party. This is a wine-paired treasure! Philippe personally hand-carries wine back from France, specifically for this dinner. He is extremely knowledgeable about wine and puts great thought and care into his selections, just as he does with his culinary creations. This evening is sure to be a feast for your palate!
Don’t miss out on this truly special experience before it’s going, going… GONE!
Opening Bid: $2,400
Final Sale Price: $42,000
Being a Big is a big commitment – a commitment that can stretch a big’s creativity and budget. Bigs truly bring out the best in their Littles by exposing them to new experiences. And the responsibility is usually on the Bigs to fund these ventures.
Except for now: right now we are looking to you to partner with us to help send Matches to a 9ers game. For a home game in the upcoming regular season, your $1,000 donation will provide transportation to and from the game, a pair of seats for one Match, and food and drinks at the game.
Thanks to BBBS supporter JK and the 49ers!
Donation amount: $1,000/match to send them to the 49ers game
Imagine a mountain range that fuels your soul makes you feel alive. With 15 peaks above 11,000 feet of elevation, the jaw dropping Ruby Mountains are an off-the-beaten path gem offering more than 200,000 acres of skiable terrain with an average dry snowpack of 300 feet. With wide open glaciated bowls, limber and white bark pines, and aspen forests, there is terrain for everyone.
So remote you will be helicoptered into this backcountry skiing adventure. With a limit of 16 people per tour, and 4 to 1 guide to client ratio, the Ruby Mountain Heli Skiing guest experience provides a private atmosphere with attention to detail, on the mountain or at the lodge.
The latest equipment is included with your stay. All guests are provided access to some of the best powder skis and poles currently on the market, along with airbag backpacks from Scott, transceivers from Mammut, and all required avalanche equipment.
Truly escape the crowds at our privately owned lodge at the base of the Ruby Mountains, located at 7,000 feet with inspiring 360 degree views of the Ruby Mountains to the south and east and the Great Basin Valley to the north and west
From the moment guests arrive at the lodge they are welcomed by our staff with a friendly and warm greeting. Get settled in your room, set up with skis and gear, enjoy a handcrafted cocktail from the Ruby 360 Bar overlooking the Great Basin, meet the guides and talk ski conditions and indulge in our nightly dinner service with anticipation of sitting in an A-Star and flying into the Rubies in the coming morning.
This package for two includes 3 nights lodging – double occupancy, all meals, designed and prepared by renowned chef Francy Hoyer and her team, ski equipment rental, Elko Airport shuttle, and complimentary Great Basin or Ruby Mountain beer are included.
Vertical guarantee of 15 runs, with option to ski up to 18 at no additional charge. Season runs from mid-January through mid-April.
The guests would be responsible for any extras such as the arrival night dinner, bar tab, single room upgrade, extra skiing, store purchases, etc.
Opening Bid: $6,000 Value: $11,992
Enjoy a once in a lifetime experience at the 2023 Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club!
This all-expenses trip includes:
• Two (2) people to enjoy tickets for either either Saturday; April 15th or Sunday; April 16th
• (2) Delta Business Class Vouchers.
• Airport Transportation
• Overnight accommodations for one night at a luxury guest house
• Daily meals
• Special Gifts.
Opening Bid: $5,000 Value: $15,000 Final Sale Price: $36,000
Two Couples will be flown first class to NAPA and then enjoy 4 days and 3 nights at the exclusive Cardinale Villa. This beautiful home is on the grounds of the fabulous Cardinale Winery in Oakville, California.
Promontory tasting!!! This "can't get access" winery is a very special experience. Promontory, owned by the Harlan family is hidden in the hills of Oakville and is one of most beautiful sites in NAPA. Promontory is truly a world apart from the Napa Valley that most people experience. Within this secluded canyon there are two distinct fault lines, roughly demarcating the boundaries between volcanic, sedimentary, and metamorphic soils. This diverse geology is stretched across 500 feet of elevation, on a multitude of dramatic slopes and panoramic exposures.
Bryant Tasting- Don and Bettina Bryant have built one of NAPA's most incredible wineries on the Western Slope of Pritchard Hill. This rare opportunity to try these beautiful wines will truly be an out of this world experience. Bryant Estate wines are currently harvested, blended, and produced entirely by hand from grapes planted and grown on the original 13-acre estate, as well as on neighboring vineyards on Howell Mountain, Las Posadas, and Madrona.
Cardinale- during your stay the Winery will host you and your guests to a lunch and wine tasting of the wonderful Cardinale Wines. Cardinale was born in 1982, with a mission to produce a singular Cabernet Sauvignon from the highest quality vineyards in NAPA Valley. All sub-appellations of the region were to be considered, and grape sources change from year to year to create the most distinctive wine from each vintage. Made by the extraordinaire Chris Carpenter for over 20 years, Cardinale is a NAPA All Star!!
The Matheson- the hottest new dinner, wine and entertainment venue on the planet - is located in Healdsburg and is owned by everyone's favorite Healdsburg native and Chef extraordinaire Dustin Valette. You will enjoy a chef inspired meal prepared by Dustin and his team and get to enjoy the soon to be "out of this world" famous Wine Wall where you can sample up to 50 wines from all over the worlds by the glass!!!
Private Limo Service- during your stay in NAPA you will be chauffeured to and from your wine tastings in a private car.
Opening Bid: $15,000 Value: $25,000 Final Sale Price: $60,000
For this memorable evening, Stuart brings his celebrated cooking style into your home. A locally focused and seasonally driven menu will be complemented by exceptional wines and the genuine hospitality of our service team. Expect a truly priceless experience!
All food and wine costs are included.
Value: $5,000/Private chef and wine experience — Priceless
Opening Bid: $5,000 Value: $5,000 Final Sale Price: $100,000 X2
Enjoy great food in a beautiful location with live entertainment. 20 lucky bidders will be able to buy into this party catered by local favorite chef Antonio Asayrian at the beautiful Szabo vineyard in Penn Valley.
Buy-in: $150/person: 20 people
Enjoy camping under the sun and the stars as you paddle your way down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.
On this gorgeous 3-night, 4-day rafting excursion courtesy of Sonoma’s own Lombardi Wines and Middle Fork Rafting, owned and operated by the historic Middlefork Lodge, you and seven of your friends are invited to join winemaker Tony Lombardi in discovering the rugged beauty of the Frank Church Wilderness, a 2.3 million acreage nestled in the heart of central Idaho.
Along the way you’ll imbibe some of Tony’s most beloved cellar selects, including the very rare and extremely coveted Lombardi Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, a 60-bottle annual allotment not sold on the open market. This one-of-a-kind river experience accommodates eight guests and includes chartered airfare for your party in addition to food and wine pairings for all meals. Here, in the heart of the undiscovered American West, you’re guaranteed to find your highest self.
Opening Bid: $25,000 Value: $50,000
Take this in...an all-inclusive luxury-ingredient-filled private dinner party for you and your ten closest friends in your home prepared by Michelin-trained chefs. This experience will include canapés and cocktails, a coursed dinner for 10, and wine pairing.
Truffle Shuffle founders, Jason, Tyler, and Sarah met while working together at The French Laundry and have taken their passion for cuisine and hospitality into the start-up world launching Truffle Shuffle in 2018. Truffle Shuffle is now backed by Shark Tank's Mark Cuban.
Opening Bid: $4,000
Value: $10,000
Final Sale Price: $24,000 X3 ($72,000).
Embark on an unforgettable trip to Albany, Bahamas, with NetJets, our official sponsor for private jet airfare and the worldwide leader in private aviation. Eight guests will enjoy three nights at the oceanside luxury resort community located on the beautiful island of New Providence in The Bahamas. Combining inspired design, luxury amenities, warm hospitality, and a stunning natural landscape, Albany, Bahamas, is modern island living at its best.
Rated by Forbes as one of the most exclusive resorts in the world, Albany is a 600-acre oceanside luxury resort community located on the beautiful island of New Providence in The Bahamas. Albany and its rare collection of amenities provide an exceptional way for residents and visitors to enjoy the pleasures of island life. For families, businesspeople, and couples alike, Albany is a quiet island getaway, sportsperson’s paradise, elegant retreat and genuine community.
Opening Bid: $25,000 Value: $50,000 Final Sale Price: $60,000
Whisk away to Carmel for a relaxing mid-week getaway for two. Stay two-nights at the elegant Carriage House Inn, tucked away on a quiet side street just south of Ocean Avenue. Enjoy lunch for two at the lodge at Pebble Beach with expansive views of the iconic 18th hole.
Treat yourselves to a romantic dinner at Anton & Michel Restaurant. And don’t forget the wine tasting! Visit Bernardus Wines for a Reserve Wine Tasting of five Bernardus Wines hand-selected by winemaker Dean De Korth. Drop in to Wrath Wines to pick up two bottles selected just for you. And last, but certainly not least, take home a case of Dahlkemper Farms olive oil.
Opening Bid: $1,300 Value: $2,600 Final Sale Price: $300,000
I’ve included that final “bonus lot” because it was, quite honestly, the most exciting lot I sold all year. Sometimes it isn’t the value of the lot, but the commitment of the bidders that creates excitement, and it serves as a good reminder that it isn’t just what you have to sell, but who you have to bid on it. So create exciting auction lots, and bring in the bidders to make that excitement happen.
Live events are coming back! Are you ready? Many of us have not held a live event in a while, so let’s get together to talk about what has changed and what still works in the world of fundraising auctions and non-profit event production.
Presented by industry experts from Greater Giving, Beth Sandefur Events, The Lux Productions, and Stellar Fundraising Auctions. This workshop will feature in-depth discussions on how the culture of in-person events has evolved, the ways auction software has changed, best practices for registration in the time of covid, leaving your silent auction online, making your fund-a-need successful, live auction lots that work, conducting a hybrid event, breakout Q&A sessions, and more.
Registration includes lunch and a cooking demonstration by Orion Sylvester of Orion’s Kitchen. Seminar is limited to 50 attendees, so register now!
Register Now!
Register now for our free educational webinar, When Online Meets In-Person: Hybrid Events Defined
Thursday, January 14, 2021 | 11AM PST
I’ve been shocked this year by how many times I’ve heard event committees tell me that they are worried about holding a virtual gala because virtual galas “are boring.”
“Really?” I always ask, “what virtual galas have you been watching?” And when they say, “All of them” I understand.
If you don’t care about the organization, virtual galas are boring.
If you have no direct connection to the cause, virtual galas are boring.
If you don’t know any of the names of the people who are bidding or making pledges in the fund-a-need, virtual galas are boring.
And especially if you are watching on your phone while doing other things, virtual galas are boring.
At its core, a virtual gala is the opportunity for a community of supporters to come together and make great things happen for the cause they believe in – just like an in-person gala. Have you ever found yourself at a gala for a cause you didn’t know? Sitting at an empty table, listening to speeches by people you don’t know? Sounds boring, right?
A fundraising gala, virtual or otherwise, is a communal celebration. Most virtual galas have an extremely focused target market. Yes, we are trying to make them entertaining and engaging – but for believers or those who have been invited by a believer to attend.
Which is why whenever I encourage clients to watch any of the events I’ve done, I tell them to turn down the sound and skip through the program. I want them to get an idea of what sort of look and feel works for them, not get bogged down in content. Because if you don’t care about the content, watching anything will get boring.
We were working on a virtual gala for a non-profit this year, and the board insisted that the event be no more than 45-minutes long. They were worried about it being boring. So we trimmed the program down, cut out a bunch of great content, and brought the gala in on-time.
When it was over, the overwhelming feedback from the board was, “Wow, that was great! Why did you make it so short?”
Have some faith in your message and your supporters. Your virtual gala won’t be boring. Your crowd won’t be bored by helping you to change the world. They never are.
